


Fire Starter

by TheEmpressAR



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Fire, Gen, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-29 21:32:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19838908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmpressAR/pseuds/TheEmpressAR
Summary: Someone has plans to take over Johnny's Dojo.  He ALMOST succeeds...





	Fire Starter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brihana25](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brihana25/gifts), [OutForAWalkBitkah3568](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OutForAWalkBitkah3568/gifts), [orangerebellion13 on Tumblr](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=orangerebellion13+on+Tumblr).



> This is for @brihana25 and her NEED for “We Didn’t Start the Fire…Eh…yeah we did!” 
> 
> This is for @outforawalkbitkah who wanted Johnny to be rescued from his dojo by Daniel. I hope I did okies!! 
> 
> This is for @orangerebellion13 who pondered what it would have been like if Kreese’s cigar actually did more damage.
> 
> Thank you ladies…Once I started…I just couldn’t stop!! Much like the FIYAH this caused in me! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t mean to hurt our poor boys. But they did get Fire Whumped!!

Johnny lay in a daze on the mat of the Cobra Kai dojo. He had just gotten the biggest shock of his life as his old Sensei, mentor and ghost from his past, John Kreese appeared in his darkened doorway, smoking a cigar and speaking in riddles. 

Johnny had just looked at him, numb and mute. He thought he was dead. Everyone thought he was dead. He was talking about something…what? Closing the book on us? What the hell did that mean? Why was he here now? 

“You gotta be kidding me…” He said walking closer to the figure in dark shadows. Flashes and replays of the night he came in second place…the night he almost died at this bastard’s hand and he was calmly smoking that fucking cigar, laughing at him. 

“I’m here to help you…” 

“I don’t need your help, old man!” 

“Eh…we’ll see…by the time this is over…” 

“By the time what is…” Johnny barely got the final words out before Kreese threw his lit cigar butt into the trash can beside the door. It started smoking in whatever paper and garbage was left behind from the kids earlier.

“What the hell are you doing?” Johnny said going over to the trash can. He was met with a leg to the gut, knocking the wind out of him. 

“Leave it.” 

“The hell I will!!” Johnny wheezed and without warning leapt at Kreese grabbing the old man by the collar and tossing him aside. 

Kreese laughed as he hit the ground but quickly rolled and pinned Johnny’s legs as he once again went for the fire in the trash can that was quickly spreading outside of the can. Black smoke was creeping its way up the wall. 

“You’re gonna burn this place down…asshole!” Johnny said, pinned under Kreese’s surprisingly strong legs. He struggled to sit up but Kreese was faster, rolling almost on top of him, putting a death grip on his neck. Johnny looked up into the older man’s eyes and saw the same look he had as an impetuous teenage boy who lost his only real father figure in a matter of minutes. He saw the same evil in his eyes. 

Johnny clawed at Kreese’s arm. He was choking. The dots were beginning to swim… “Why?” 

“Why not?” Kreese growled back. I want the legacy of MY dojo…not yours…even if it means I have to start new after I burn this place and YOU to the ground. 

“They’ll never.” 

“They will…once they learn that they need to keep the memory of their sensei and his honor alive. I’m the only one that can bring them that!” 

Kreese redoubled his efforts. Johnny was trying to kick out of the hold but he was choking and the smoke in the room was starting to affect his vision…and it was creeping into his nose. Thankfully, Kreese was blocking his airway…if that was anything to be thankful for. Kreese let up and Johnny gagged and gasped and choked. His eyes were burning. He could barely see or breathe. He looked at Kreese who stood in a cloud of smoke almost like he was just the spectre he claimed to be. He picked up Johnny’s cellphone. 

“Perfect…how predictable you are…why you have the number of your “mortal enemy” programed into your phone…Just as I knew you would. 

The flames were licking the walls of the dojo now. Bright orange. Why hadn’t the sprinkler system gone off yet? Johnny had thought in his clogged brain. “Oh right…” He groaned. The inspector warned him about getting it fixed. He just kept putting it off. 

“You bastard!! What does he have to do with this?” He was struggling to a sitting position, but in his weakened state, he didn’t have much strength to fend off the double kick to the solar plexus that Kreese simultaneously doled out as he hit the speed dial. 

“Speed dial even…have you two become…friends?” 

“Johnny?”

“No…’fraid not…Johnny’s unavailable right now…” 

“Wait a minute…who is this?” 

“Awwwwww….that hurt, Princess…you don’t remember the sound of my voice? I figure it would be haunting your nightmares still to this day…especially the way I made you piss your pants when I jumped out from behind that stand-up handsome likeness of yours truly.”

“Kreese…” 

“The one and only…” 

“Why…where’s Johnny…why are you calling on his phone?” Daniel heard the scuffling on the other end of the line. “LARUSSO…GET HELP!!” He heard choking and a loud yell and a cracking sound. 

“Johnny…where are you?”

Continued sounds of struggle and coughing and Kreese was back on the line, winded. “I just knocked the pretty boy out…I figure you have about less than five minutes to get your ass over here and save him…or die trying…two birds with one stone and all that jazz.” 

“Kreese…you son of a bitch!!” 

“Again with the flattery…ta ta!”

Kreese hung up then promptly broke Johnny’s phone tossing it to the ground. Johnny was groaning and losing consciousness on the ground in front of him. Kreese had slammed him head first into his floor length mirror and he lay in a pile of shards of broken mirror pieces all around him. He looked down at the wound in his leg. Johnny had gotten one good shard of glass embedded in him before nearly passing out. Kreese looked at him, shook his head and pulled it out of him without so much as a wince, tossing the bloody shard to the ground. 

“It has been a pleasure…but I think you have your hands full…” Kreese said turning to leave. Johnny saw him one last time through the flames as he walked to the door. 

“Don’t…you can’t…” 

“I’m afraid I just did.” Kreese said exiting the building, and turning to lock the door behind him. 

———–

The fire had been blazing for a good five minutes when Daniel pulled up in his SUV. Alarms and sirens were going off all around. The mini mart beside the dojo’s fire alarms were sounding and people were starting to gather around the building. 

Daniel got out of his SUV and looked at the wall of flames. Panic and terror on his face. What if…no…he couldn’t be…he can’t be!!

“JOHNNY!!” He screamed into the flames. “Did anyone see the man who owns this place? Did he come out?? Where is he?” He rushed over to the homeless lady he knew that frequented the area when he had been here the handful of times before. 

“Where is he…where’s Johnny?!” 

“You mean blondie?” 

“Yes…Blondie!” Daniel said exasperated. 

“I don’t know honey…but he sure is gonna be pissed about this!” 

“No shit…” Daniel said turning away from her and running back to the building. Suddenly, the glass door exploded from the bottom and black smoke came billowing out from the inside. Daniel didn’t think. He knew Johnny had to be in there. He knew he was either hurt, or unconscious or….he didn’t want to think about that. 

He rushed to the door and assessed the situation. He took off his shirt. The cold evening breeze and the heat from the building contrasted against his skin. He put his navy blue sweatshirt to his nose and didn’t hesitate another second. He didn’t touch any of the door frame or surrounding glass. He kicked in the rest of the door and ventured inside. 

It was dark. Black. Smoke in the room. Flames out of control. He knew that heat and smoke rose and that there was a small chance that Johnny may be lying on the ground somewhere. 

“Joh-Johnny” He choked out…his lungs filling almost immediately. 

A groan from the floor in front of him. Close. Where. _‘Where goddamn it…where are you?!’_

Daniel kept his mouth closed and moved his feet across the ground…trying to find something to nudge. He found it. He felt the heat of the room singeing his skin. He felt like he was burning from the inside. _‘Come on, Johnny…help me…’_ He said in his head. 

“JOHNNY!!” He gave one final cry…falling to the ground in front of him. Barely recognizable. Soot and ashes covering his face. The air was smoky but he realized it wasn’t as bad as low to the ground as he was. There was still a chance. He put his ear to Johnny’s mouth. He was breathing…just barely. 

His lungs were starting to burn and he was only in there less than a minute. He could only imagine what the man on the floor was going through. 

_‘Come on…let’s get out of here…Goldilocks…I still have a lot of personal beefs to hash out with you. You gotta stay alive long enough for me to do it!’_ He tried to lift Johnny, but that was a no go. Johnny had always been bigger. “Damn it…” He said in desperation. “Help me!” 

Johnny groaned and cracked open his eyes. He saw Daniel in front of him, almost wringing his hands…trying to pull him by the foot out of the door. He choked and sputtered. “La…” It burned his lungs and he cried out. 

Blue and red lights lit up the smoke like an eerie 80s dance club. Daniel almost cried in relief. The fire trucks were here and the firefighters were on their way in. Daniel pulled Johnny to a sitting position. He knew they would have a hard time finding them and they were running out of passable breathing air and time. He communicated with Johnny with his eyes and grabbed his arm to sling it over his shoulder. Johnny moaned but understood. 

With all of Daniel’s strength he hoisted his friend up. Johnny leaned heavily on him and he almost immediately fell back over to the ground. The sweatshirt around his mouth slipped and he breathed in straight black smoke. He coughed but managed to hold on before growing dizzy himself. 

One final push to the door and he stumbled with Johnny wrapped around him. Johnny’s face was pressed close to his neck. He was losing his battle quickly. Daniel had to get outside. He had to breathe in the fresh, clean smog-filled air. He never wanted anything more than for he and his friend to be ok…safe and alive. “Help us!!” He weakly croaked out. 

The firefighters saw the pair coming towards the door and immediately went to grab them and haul them outside. The rush of cool air hit them both and they fell to the ground…gasping and choking…Johnny had stopped breathing. 

“Johnny…” Daniel looked over at him. He was almost gone himself but not nearly as bad of shape as Johnny Lawrence. His rival and his friend. “JOHNNY!” Daniel cried rolling over on top of him, shaking him. “Breathe…Johnny…Breathe…don’t…DON’T DO THIS!!” 

Daniel frantically pulled on Johnny’s shirt, near singed to his body. He was blistered. It was bad. “NO!” He pounded on Johnny’s chest. The medical team pushed past Daniel and got to work on Johnny. Daniel refused to leave his side. He grabbed a soot covered hand and held onto it for dear life. “Don’t…you can’t leave me…” 

A gasp. A gagging breath. A squeeze of Daniel’s hand. Johnny’s blackened face turned towards him and he opened his eyes again…slowly. “Had you goin’ there for a minute…didn’t I, LaRusso.” He coughed and sputtered and closed his eyes, not letting go of Daniel’s hand. 

“You’re a dick…you do realize that.” Daniel said finally allowing himself a small smile. 

“How are you holding up?” An EMT asked beside him. 

“I’m fine…just…just make sure you take care of him.”

“He’s lucky to have a friend like you.” 

Daniel didn’t say anything. Just held on to Johnny’s hand as they were loaded up into the awaiting ambulance. 


End file.
